Once Upon a University Campus

Pooja- Prayers to Gods Unknown

That cardamom and ginger laced chai tasted heavenly. It was not overwhelmingly sweet, nor was it overly spicy. The chai served at the hostel mess or the dhaba tasted more like boiled rainwater scooped from a muddy puddle. Annika sighed as she put down her white porcelain cup back on the matching saucer. She was still sitting on the bed. SHe had been woken up by Mrs Phatak with chai in her hand. Saahil, all washed and sharp in his crisp clothes slurped on his chai noisily by the door of the bedroom. Mrs Phatak sat next to Annika on the bed sipping her Chai quietly.

"I miss the luxury of having my morning tea with my daughter." Mrs Phatak had a smile on her face, but her voice was heavy and weighed down. "You daughters leave us too soon. If only.. " She said wishfully. "You know I used to do this with my own daughter while Prof Phatak went out for his morning walk with his colleagues. Now that she is away, I miss it." Prof Phatak continued ruefully.

"I miss my Sushma." A middle aged woman with a generous girth sipped her chai gracefully. "Never get your daughters married to guys working abroad. Now for my younger one, we have liked someone whose parents live close by. He is currently studying in America but he had promised his parents to be back in India after he finishes his studies. Good for us. At least one of my daughters will live close by."

"Sumo is such a darling." Mrs Phatak acknowledged. "She deserves the best"

"What do I tell you Mrs Phatak. It is 8.30 in the morning and the girl is still not here. Thanks to Saahil, he picked us up from the train station. This girl only briefly spoke to me to check if Saahil had found us and since then I don't know her whereabouts." Sumo's mother complained.

"Don't worry Mrs Hiremath. We all got woefully late last night at the sangeeth and cocktail party. But then it was just not the kids. The event was so good that we all had a great time. You should have been here yesterday. Now the kids are waking up late. At our age we cannot sleep. Let the kids sleep. Once they are married and gone they will not have the luxury of sleeping into mornings anyway. " Mrs Phatak tried to sooth Mrs Hiremath.

"You are correct Mrs Phatak....I am just getting impatient to meet my little girl." Mrs Hiremath quietened.

Annika looked around her. She had come to Prof Phatak's house so many times in the past. But this was her first time in the bedroom upstairs. Not that she had any plans of ending up here this time either. It is just that Mrs Phatak insisted that if they were doing the Kanyadaan, she would do it the right way. She wanted Annika to do some pre-wedding pooja as per her traditions. Increasingly it looked like Mrs Phatak was just filling the hole in her heart left by her daughter who now lived abroad after her marriage to a south Indian guy. Annika looked around. On the wall opposite her were pictures of the daughter, from that of a baby to that of a radiant bride. Everything else in the room was left untouched. A study table in the corner still had a crooked study lamp and several Engineering text books. On the other side of the wall was the poster of a bollywood star. Is that what parents do when they become empty nesters? Annika wondered. Is this what her parents would have done had they been around? It reminded her of her own parents. After her exams, her father had a hard time giving away piles of worksheets Annika had practiced during the whole school year. He had been unhappy that Annika was giving away all her hard work, that he had been so proud of. Annika had tried to explain to him that everything she had learnt was in a better place- her head, but her father had wanted to keep the physical reminders close to him. Annika unconsciously chuckled looking straight into the closet in front of her. For all she knew, the closet was full of worksheets, notes and books all sorted and arranged in neat piles.

"Breakfast?" Mrs Phatak was asking Mrs Hiremath.

Mrs Hiremath nodded. She had already bathed and washed away the hideousness of a 40 hour train journey. Her off white silk sari complimented her beautifully.